Lot 31 Bethesda Project Nearing More Major Milestones

After roughly 5,000 truck loads of concrete, 8.6 million pounds of reinforced steel and 1,200 miles of post tension cable, the Lot 31 project in Bethesda is nearing some significant milestones.

On Friday, developers StonebridgeCarras and PN Hoffman, along with general contractor Clark Construction and officials from the Montgomery County Department of Transportation celebrated the topping out of construction on The Flats, the 186-unit apartment building that abuts the Capital Crescent Trail.

Woodmont Avenue between Bethesda Avenue and Leland Street will reopen by Friday, Aug. 22, on the weekend before the first day of the 2014-2015 county school year, said StonebridgeCarras Principal Jane Mahaffie.

The county closed the stretch of road in September 2012 to allow for the construction of the underground garage below.

Mahaffie said the developer and county hope to open that garage by or around Dec. 1. The project includes 970 public parking spaces to be operated by Montgomery County as the new Lot 31. Those spaces will be separated by a gate from the roughly 300 spaces that will be reserved for residents and guests of the apartment and The Darcy condos on the east side of Woodmont Avenue.

Crews excavated 35,000 truck loads of dirt to dig out space for the four-level garage.

StonebridgeCarras Principal Doug Firstenberg said the developer hopes to have the buildings finished by May 2015.

The Flats will include a Pottery Barn and Pottery Barn Kids on the corner of Woodmont and Bethesda Avenues, a Paul Bakery, Chop’t and Silver. The new sit-down dining concept from the Silver Diner will have street seating along Woodmont Avenue.

Along the project’s boundary with the Sacks Neighborhood, there will be a public pedestrian cut-thru to the Capital Crescent Trail and public courtyard.

PassionFish and a yet-to-be leased retail space will go in the first floor of The Darcy, the 64-unit luxury condo building on the east side of Woodmont Avenue.